Mittwoch, 8. Februar 2012, 07:36:40 Uhr
















24. Oktober 2009, 23:52

Southern Exposure - Jason Polakow in Teahupoo

Story and Fotos by Jason Polakow

With Hawaii in its off-season I decided to pack my surf and windsurf equipment and head down to the South Pacific islands to test some of the new 2010 range from JP / NP and also put to use some of the safety equipment that I have been developing.

Brüttisellen, 23.10.09 (mk) The use of safety equipment such as jet skies, safety sleds, flotation vests and suits has made a big impact on big wave surfing and sailing, opening up new doors and allowing athletes to push themselves further than ever before.

I have purchased jet skies and safety sleds in places like Australia, Tahiti and Hawaii to make sure that when I arrive there, by mid afternoon I will be towing or windsurfing 15 to 20 foot waves with the reassurance that I have all the safety gear necessary to ensure a safe and fun day on the water.

In some cases you might not get a chance to test your specialized equipment in a certain seasons due to limited surf conditions, so by having these sort of setups spread around the world it really increases your chances of scoring large surf and thus being able to test all your gear effectively.

For those of you who don’t know your history on how floatation came about into the surfing and windsurfing world here’s a little flash back. In the early days of riding big waves, people used nothing but a wetsuit, basically relying on experience and a bit of luck to get us through the day unscathed. As time went on and the level of performance rose we quickly realized we needed some floatation to help us survive those big wipe outs. A few surfers had started using floatation vests but there were mixed opinions regarding their worth.

Some speculated that because of the buoyancy one would stay in the white water longer. Like throwing a beach ball in front of a rolling wave. It would just keep getting tumbled and tumbled.
As time went on, we quickly realized that this was not the case and the general consensus of most big waves riders was to wear some form of flotation especially in the case of being knocked unconscious or drowning. The victim could at least return to the surface for possible revival.

It was not until the start of the millennium that windsurfers started looking into safety equipment and the possible benefits in enhancing performance.
In the early stages of experimentation with floatation we simply wore a life jacket over a harness. It did the job, adding floatation but it was bulky, therefore restricting performance. The development of a flotation vest incorporated with a built-in harness amalgamated these two devices, freeing up movement and allowing for better performance.
By the start of the new century companies had already started producing this combination of harness / jacket and a lot of the elite windsurf clan jumped at the hot new product.

The next step was the development of the floatation suit. Floatation suits have been around for quite some time predominantly used in water skiing but never in the surfing world. Initial prototypes were restrictive, until the bands of floatation material were strategically placed throughout the wetsuit allowing for maximum flexibility. The bulk of the floatation was distributed around the entire body, making the suit extremely thin and comfortable to wear. This allowed for almost effortless movement making a big jump in safety and pushing performance to a higher level.
Anyway, enough of the history lesson!

With these advancements being made in the areas of protection and safety, dangers are still obvious, especially when it starts getting big and especially when you’re tackling waves like Teauhpoo.
If you manage to get hit the wrong way by a 15-foot lip at Teahupoo, you could quite easily be taking a trip to the hospital. Astronomical mathematical figures start playing a role when you’re talking about the volume of water that’s getting picked up and slammed onto the reef.

Other factors are the super shallow and razor sharp reefs. You really have to watch the way you wipe out if you can. I have seen people come up totally bloody from head to toe and others rushed to hospital. It’s a daunting feeling sitting in the channel so close to the wave, putting on your wet suit while you’re watching some poor soul getting scraped off the reef and ferried to the beach.

I was driving the jetski this year in July, sitting in the channel, watching as it got bigger and bigger. A 12 to 15 foot set came through and the few surfers that were in the lineup just started scrambling for the outside. One of the guys was a little too far in and had to duck dive the wave as it barreled over him. In all other circumstances he would have been fine but Teauhpoo is a different animal. As he punched through the lip of the wave, he must have thought he was ok, until the wave just sucked him backwards and over the falls. This is the worst way to wipe out as the lip can slam you into the sharp reef where you could easily die if you’re unlucky. I immediately drove the ski to the impact zone to pick him up. He popped up almost where he had gone down and I was fortunate enough to get to him before the next wave came rolling in. He was shaken up and lucky enough to be ok.

This year’s assault on Teauhpoo was a game of patience; I had a great system this year when it came to maximizing my efficiency on the water, especially considering that this particular swell only lasted 12 hours.

I would tie my equipment to a nearby buoy when the wind was too light, switching to tow surfing until I could see a gust of wind coming down the coast usually indicated by a forming rainbow upwind of the break. I usually had about 15 to 20 minutes to switch back to my windsurf equipment and try to catch a wave before the rain shower would shut the wind back down. Everything was working well apart from the fact that only about one 15-foot bomb came through every hour, making my situation very precarious.
It could have been a day of torment, watching 15 foot waves pass me by time and time again, but fortunately, I was able to catch one or two bombs before the day was done.

I actually spent most of the time of this trip sitting on the back of the jetski with my windsurf equipment in hand, trying to catch a set
wave. If you think it sounds easy then think again. Trying to time a 15-foot wave coming towards you as you jump off the back of the ski with only a few seconds to pump the sail before it starts barreling over the reef is no easy feat!
It made me realize how close I was to getting no waves at all and no story to tell.

By the end of the trip I was thinking of what I had learned with my equipment and what I could do to improve it.
I learned that I should even go a bit shorter in my board length for thick super hollow waves and that I could maybe add a little more rocker so I could really stay in the pocket of the barrel. I actually would like to try a quad fin board at this spot next year as I think it would work really well in those types of waves. All the tow guys down here are using quad fin surfboards and they seem to work really well. I would also thicken my board slightly as the wind is usually on the light side down there.

My sails were actually working really well down there. The new 2010 Zone sails are a lot softer than in previous years with more power down low. That and the fact that they are super light made it a lot easier for me to pump the sail a few times to get the speed I needed to catch these waves.

At the end of the day riding big waves comes down to a simple equation. Risk versus adrenaline. How much are you willing to risk to achieve the adrenaline you want? It’s hard to find a balance between the two. Some people are satisfied with what they are given within themselves and others want to push that boundary a little further.

I suppose the trick to this conundrum is finding a realistic medium between temptation and personal injury and being content with that.
In the end it’s all about having fun, pushing the limits with your friends and knowing that you have done all you can to ensure a safe return back from the water.
Some ideas lead to dead ends while others open up new doors of opportunity.
The important thing is to keep testing gear, trying new concepts and keep pushing forward regardless of the setbacks.

Leserkommentare (0) »